I got married y'all!

Haven't posted anything in a while as the five people who read this thing keep pointing out...Forgive my absence but I was off GETTING MARRIED!

It was a really great day and experience overall. I realized who my true friends and family were throughout this experience. Even though most of my friends sucked at planning the wedding, they really excelled at loving and supporting me. I'm the luckiest girl in the world and I couldn't be happier to have such a wonderful husband, parents, friends, coworkers and new in laws that I actually like! Ryan's family is da best. The best compliment I heard over and over again that night? "I fucking hate weddings but this one is the best!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Happy couple

Daddy!

My friends of many years and many more to come!

Rock The Bells

I finally got to visit New York for non-work related purposes and I could not have picked a better time - Rock the Bells was taking place! When I was nine years old I discovered Snoop Doggy Dogg (now known as 'Snoop Dogg' pffft) and his Dogg Pound. I fell in love and played the album Doggystyle over and over again. To this day I can rap along to every word on every song. Getting to see this album played in its entirety was an amazing experience. I actually contemplated missing the show due to some unfortunate circumstances but I'm so glad that I went. Even my mom said I would be insane to miss Snoop! She remembers me rocking that tape until it practically broke. A Tribe Called Quest was also mind blowing. When they did Scenario (a song I blogged about earlier) and Busta Rhymes came on stage to do his legendary verse, I almost fainted. Despite having such an amazing time, I now feel a little sad and nostalgic because A) Hip Hop has taken a turn for the worse and B) I'm not nine years old anymore. Oh if I could only go back to the good 'ol days - something my nine year old self could never imagine saying!

LIFE: random shenanigans

Jordan, Mrs.Beau Gadreau & Caitlin leaving the chocolate loft!

Babe friends at Rush's DVD release party

CK and my bif - Rush's DVD Party again

Sora and I underdressed at the oh so fancy Your Designer Friend launch party

Joey pretending to be sober at an ICFF event in Soho

DJ Willis and my sister in law at the D12 concert - Eminem was notably absent...har har har

 Laura, myself and Evan Seventeen partying in Sudbury's latest hot spot - LB's garage!

Dinner party hosted by Syd. Victoria, Romy and Beau. Interesting mix of friends that night!

Action Makes making action!

Just a regular night with Ry!

I'm getting baptized y'all!

So the man I'm about to marry comes from a Greek orthodox family. I recently spoke to the priest to ask what I had to do since I'm not Greek and we're having a big fat Greek wedding. He tells me nothing since he assumes I'm Catholic or Protestant. After finding out I was raised without any religion he proclaims in horror, "So you're nothing?! Well we definitely need to get you baptized then." So on top of planning a wedding, I now have to plan my very own baptism...Wondering what a Greek baptism entails? Here are some highlights:

EXORCISM - The first step begins with the entrance to the church. This is to show that the one being received is not yet a member of the Church. The priest calls upon the sponsor to renounce Satan and all his works from the child (that's me!). The renouncing of Satan is done facing the west, it is where the sun sets, the place where the ancient Greeks believed to be the location of Hades, the gates of Hell. Then the priest faces east, where the sun rises. He asks the godparents to accept for the child "Christ, who is the light of the world".

The priest makes the sign of the cross over the child (me again!), this is repeated often during the service. The cross is the sign of victory, this puts the devil into flight. In the ancient times, slaves were branded to show which master they belonged to. 

THE NAKED INFANT (!!!) - The child is baptized naked, as it comes from the womb of his mother, so he emerges from the womb of God - the baptismal font. The removal of the child's clothing signifies the old slough of sin which will be cast off entirely through baptism.

THE ANOINTING WITH OIL - Olive oil is blessed by the priest and applied to the child's hands, feet ears and mouth, in order to dedicate them to the service of Christ. The god parents then anoint the entire body of the child with the oil.

THE CUTTING OF HAIR - After confirming the child, the priest cuts three locks of hair from his head. This is an expression of gratitude for receiving God's blessings in baptism and confirmation.

THE RELIGIOUS DANCE - A procession around the baptism font by the priest and godparent holding the child is believed to be a reflection of the celebration of angels dancing and expressing their joy that a new soul has been registered in the Book of Souls.

OMG, pray for me people. Pray that they will make some exceptions for this poor atheist who is only doing this song and dance so she can marry the love of her life. Pray that they won't make me get naked or make my in laws rub me down with oil and cut off my hair!

Gonna run this town tonight

For some reason, I am addicted to really bad shows like the hills and the city. I am embarrassed to admit how sad I was to see the hills end, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and that light is the skinNY!!! It's, "the story of Rachel and Joanna, two wildly self-confident girls from Orlando who move to New York to work in PR and "run this town." They dress like it's 2004, believe they can have any guy they want, and listen almost exclusively to Fergie." Oh yeah, it's produced by Nick Gallo from The Onion so you know it's going to be good!

I Blame Coco

It's no secret that musicians love boinking models, so it should come as no surprise when they have beautiful daughters who go on to become...models. It's a vicious cycle. To name a few there is Amber Le Bon, Lily Collins, Daisy Lowe, Zoe Kravitz, Chelsea Tyler and of course, Georgia May Jagger. Recently, Sting's daughter Coco Summers has caught my attention. Yes, she's followed the typical model/actress route but more recently she's following in her daddy's footsteps. I kinda like her!

Summer Jam!

A) Fuck you Katy Perry and B) I know I blog about Q-Tip wayyyy too much. Shut up and watch this shit.

Got a light?

You have probably already heard of Ardi, the smoking toddler that the media has so affectionately nicknamed, the Marlboro Boy. I guess Indonesian names are too hard for them to pronounce...Well it turns out that we're from the same island - Sumatra represent! You see, I'm constantly being lectured about how much I smoke but hopefully my friends will now see that it simply cannot be helped. It's totally ingrained in my culture which CBS News has just confirmed in this oh so very informative news clip.



Thanks CBS News, you're so totally right about Indonesia's failure to educate it's population. Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, that's because they're too busy being one of the poorest fucking countries in the world? I'm not saying that it's right that this kid smokes, but this kind of "news coverage" is exploitative. It exists as a form of entertainment and to make white people feel even more superior than they already do. Is this what it’s gonna take to get Indonesia on the map? A smoking baby? For as long as I can remember people have asked me where I’m from. When I told them, they would always ask me where Indonesia was. This didn't only happen in Canada but even on my travels to the States and beyond. When the Tsunami hit and was all over the news, I thought I would never have to answer that question again. I was wrong. People mainly focused on India, Thailand and Sri Lanka despite the fact that far more people died in Indonesia. Then Obama was elected. Given all of his personal ties to Indonesia, I thought finally! Wrong again. I still had people ask me, “Did you say Malaysia?” or even worse, “Are you sure you don’t mean Polynesia?” Jesus fucking Christ, right? So then comes along tree man, this Indonesian guy completely covered in fucked up warts. Not a great thing to have your country associated with but it’s a hell of a lot better than this! A fat two year old who smokes 40 cigs a day…I would prefer that the country I am proud to say I was born in remain neglected rather than exploited in this way. Don't mistake patronization for genuine concern.

Fashion Icons

I'm pretty clueless/lazy/unoriginal when it comes to fashion but somehow I occasionally get compliments on what I wear. Instead of taking any credit, I just tell people who I copied that day. I have three fashion icons that I always refer to when I'm out shopping and I thought it was about time that I pay tribute to them. While one of them is a well known actress, a lot of people don't seem to know who the other two are whenever I mention their names. So here they are in no particular order!

Taylor Jacobson - Stylist

'I die' for Taylor! She's always rocking my favourites - flannel, denim, leather and leopard print. To add some tszuj to her look, she plays with gold jewelry. Her trademark accessories are her over sized ray bans and her gold rolex. She always looks effortlessly chic and edgy. I love her the most when she's dressed down but even when she dresses up she still somehow looks like a bad ass.











Rachel Bilson - Actress

Rachel Bilson makes a good fashion icon because her style is easy to follow! It also helps that she's short like me so whatever she wears will mostly likely look good on myself and other girls who are shorter or of average height. Her clothes are fairly basic so I'm constantly discovering new ways to wear what I already own. I especially love the way she layers with jackets and scarves. I would describe her style as casual chic.











Va$htie Kola - Fashion Designer, Music Video Director, Party Promoter, Downtown's Sweetheart etc...

While I love and copy all three of my fashion icons equally, if I had had had to pick a favourite it would probably be Vashtie. This is because her sense of style more closely resembles my own. Her fashion sense is all about balance. If she's wearing something tight, she will pair it with something baggy. She also shares my love for flannel and denim shirts, hoodies, ray bans, tennis shoes and biker boots. Her idea of dressing up is throwing a blazer or leather jacket over a t-shirt, which is exactly what a lazy tomboy like myself does!

It's Bigger Than Hip Hop

I am officially exhausted from this past weekend. I ended up destroying my regular sleep routine due to the NXNE madness. While I was happy to watch many of my friends play (shout outs to Action Makes, Drunk Woman and Another Blue Door!) I was the most excited for the free De La Soul show at Yonge-Dundas Square. Unfortunately, it was pretty disappointing. A lot of it had to do with the lame audience. People brought baby strollers and their dogs which made it hard for die hard fans to bum rush the stage and show their appreciation for such a legendary group. There was some hand waving and the occasional fist pump here and there but it was pretty pathetic and De La Soul definitely noticed. They kept stopping and restarting songs in an attempt to garner more energy from the crowd but it just wasn't happening, no matter how many times they screamed, "Come on party people!" Mind you, they did have to contend with the MMVA's taking place near by and sadly kids these days would rather see Justin Bieber and Drake. Anyhow, some highlights of the night for me included seeing one of my favourite DJ's Skratch Bastid in the crowd. I've met him in the past and he's a real nice guy, but I was too nervous to say hello this time around...Another highlight was when De La Soul gave props to local hip hoppers Kardinal Offishall and Choclair. I missed this part of the show but apparently Kardinal was hanging out beside the stage and poked his head out a few times but quickly disappeared. Too bad he didn't join them to drop a verse or two. And speaking of Kardinal, my other favourite DJ Willis (who also happens to my brother) is opening up for him this weekend in Timmins.
Hopefully the Timmins audience will know how to show their appreciation for some real hip hop and leave their fucking babies at home. On that note, here's an oldie but a goodie from 2004.

Drunk History

Last night my good pal Jesse introduced me to the Drunk History series which features inebriated people recounting historical events. The events are re-enacted by famous actors who actually lip-synch to the drunken narration! The brilliant concept came from Derek Waters who is the production assistant for the Sarah Silverman show. Speaking of female comedians, Jen Kirkman narrates volume 3 and 5 of the series and they are by far the best two! The historical accuracy is quite impressive but this should come as no surprise as Kirkman is a brilliant woman. Check out some of her stand up. I especially like her bit about female masturbation.

"Like jagged pieces of steel dipped in chocolate"

Check out Q-tip reminiscing about the recording of Scenario with Leaders of the New School. Best Charlie Brown and Busta Rhymes impressions ever.

Life is better

This video is so cute, it makes me sick. It's a perfect pick me up on a rainy day like today. I've never been a Norah Jones fan but after she made cameos on Andre 3000's The Love below and Q-Tip's Renaissance album, I decided to forgive her for that awful come away with me song. Enjoy!

ICONS

On a recent bizznizz trip to New York, I stopped by the Mr. Brainwash ICONS show in the Meatpacking District. I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about art but I really liked this show despite some of the negative criticism it has received. Some have commented on the striking resemblance to Banksy, while others speculate that Mr. Brainwash is Banksy. Who cares, right? So as the name states, the show revolves around cultural icons. I scored some free autographed posters of some of my favourite pieces like Kate Moss, Charlie Chaplin and Eric Campbell and the Beatles with their faces painted like the members of Kiss! The show is up until May 31 so if you're in New York before then, check it out. If you can't make it, enjoy these pictures (taken by my friend and colleague Joey Ignacio)

Mind the Buzzcocks

Recently I went to see the Buzzcocks play at the Opera House. These legends aren't getting any younger so I thought I would take this opportunity to see them. I'm not a die hard fan or anything but many of their songs are in high rotation on my iPod . I was super exhausted since I had just got back from a trip to New York, worked all day and headed straight to the show after a twenty minute disco nap. They were so good that I forgot about being exhausted and danced to their entire set which luckily included some of their best work from their first two albums. Pete Shelley sounded amazing although his vocals could have been louder...but that's the sound guys problem and not Pete's! The only real disappointing thing about seeing the Buzzcocks was the audience. I wish Torontonians would forget about looking cool and just let loose a little. I don't understand the hand in pocket, head bobbing stance that most of us take even when watching our favourite bands. How can you possibly stand still during a song like this:

Girls against girls

There are so many fundamental differences between men and women. These differences do not necessarily make one sex unequal to the other except for when it comes to friendship. At the risk of sounding sexist, I have to admit that I think boys are better at friendship than us girls. It’s not just the obvious bro's before ho's bullshit (which isn’t exactly bullshit since I am hard pressed to find a girl to hang out with unless her boyfriend has already made other plans) but it’s the way they treat one other. Girls are always comparing themselves to their friends and even worse, competing with them. If you think you have a girlfriend who doesn’t do this trust me she does or at least has, albeit secretly. On some level it makes sense. Evolutionarily, cross-culturally and historically speaking, we are accustomed to competing for mates. While males do this using physical aggression, females opt for social aggression. Think about it! Females tarnish each others images all of the time, commenting on others physically unattractive qualities, promiscuous habits and several other abhorrent traits. Whether or not we can help it, there is a real comradery that seems to be missing from female friendships.

Here’s a comparison of some infamous male and female friendships. Yes I know they’re fictitious, but it’s both fun and interesting to see how Hollywood depicts male and female friendships differently.

Bunk and McNulty from The Wire


These two always have each others backs. No matter what, McNulty always takes care of Bunk when he gets too wasted and Bunk always protects McNulty when he’s in trouble with their boss. They make a real effort to secure each others happiness.

Kelly and Brenda from 90210


These two idiots are supposedly best friends but Kelly has a fling with Brenda’s boyfriend while she’s away on vacation. What a bitch!

Turk and J.D from Scrubs


My dream friendship! It's easy to see why these two are so addicted to each other, they have so much fun together. They have a codependent relationship and actually go through pretty severe bouts of depression when they can’t see one another. Some might find this unhealthy but I think it’s so cute!

Hedy and Allie from Single White Female


Hedy (or should I say, ELLEN) becomes obsessed with Allie and freaks out when Allie wants to move in with her boyfriend. Her idea of revenge is to kill Allie’s puppy, copy her hair style and give her a boyfriend a blow job before murdering him with her high heel! See, girls are evil.

House and Wilson from House


In the interest of fairness, here is an example of a not so perfect male friendship. House is a pretty shitty friend to Wilson but compared to how shitty he treats everyone else, Wilson should be grateful!

Thelma and Louis from Thelma and Louise


This is the only female friendship that I can think of that rivals these aforementioned male bonds. After all nothing says comradery like joint suicide! Still, Louise had to put up with so much annoying shit because of stupid Thelma…J.D and Turk would never ditch each other for some hot hitchhiker.

Despite all of this, I will say that women understand other women in ways that no man could and as a result, girlfriends are a necessarily evil. As much as I envy friendships like J.D and Turk's, I’m still pretty fucking happy to be a woman.

CH'MON!

I have recently become addicted to karaoke. Whenever I go to Indonesia to visit family, we go out for these large dinner parties and over there it’s fairly standard to end the meal with some karaoke. I used to roll my eyes and sulk when this took place (mostly because Indonesians have a tendency to only sing cheesy love songs like, ‘I will always love you’) but I’m now ready to go back and show my Indonesian peeps how it’s really done!

You see the key for making karaoke fun is lot’s of alcohol. Not only does it provide those suffering from stage fright with the necessary amount of liquid courage but it makes watching other people butcher the shit out of a song more tolerable. And here is a less obvious tip for enhancing your karaoke experience. Instead of performing songs that you genuinely like, try singing those songs that you’ve always made fun of. Me and my pal Christy recently did a rendition of System of a Down’s B.Y.O.B. Not only was it challenging but it was piss your pants hilarious!

Here is a clip of my favorite karaoke scene from one of my all time favorite movies, Rush Hour 2. I made my best friend in high school come to the theaters with me to watch it twice. This also happens to be one of my favourite songs to sing at karaoke!

Even in darkness

Being a part of the ipod generation has completely transformed the way I listen to music. I only download those songs that I instantly like and I'm constantly skipping through songs like I have ADD. Of course you could always do this with cd's but something about having a particular album in my stereo allowed me to become familiar with an entire album and sooner or later, the songs that I had initially skipped over would start to grow on me. Often times those songs become more likable than the smash hit that motivated me to buy the album in the first place. In light of this realization, I'm going to start making a conscious effort to download entire albums so that I don't miss out on those diamonds in the rough that could very well end up being life long favourites. This whole thing got me thinking of how there are very few albums that I listen to from start to finish without feeling the urge to fast forward or skip through a single beat. One in particular is Dungeon Family's 'Even in Darkness'. I even listen to those intros which basically involve statements like, "Yo shawty, wassaup?" "Yo nigga I wanna fuck yo rims" and, "Y'all wanna fuck my rims?" Start to finish, I LOVE this album despite the fact that I have no idea what it means to wanna fuck someone's rims...

The bastard son of a hundred maniacs

For as long as I can remember my fiance Ryan has been obsessed with Freddy Kreuger. On top of owning the movies, we have the soundtrack on vinyl, several Freddy figurines and although Ryan says it's unrelated, one of our dogs is named Freddy! Tonight is the night that Ryan has been waiting for all year. At midnight we are going to catch the new Freddy movie. Jackie Earle Haley has some large shoes to fill, as he takes on Robert Englund's role as the bastard son of a hundred maniacs. I was introduced to Freddy fairly late as the first one I watched was actually the sixth installment, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Although die-hard Freddy fans often to refer to this as yet another shitty sequel where Freddy loses his edge, I would have to disagree. I was too young to remember all of the details but I will never forget how this movie gave me an unnatural fear of Q-tips. One of the characters named Carlos had a Q-tip stabbed through one ear and out the other, forcing out his hearing aid. He needed the hearing aid as a result of the abuse he suffered at the hand of his mother who by the way, rivals Freddy for the title of the most evil and sick fuck ever. I'll always remember little Carlo's pleading, "No, no, Mama, please. I've been a good boy....Please don't make me deaf, Mama." Freddy proceeds to slice off Carlos' ear and in true Kreuger fashion says, "Oh, Carlos, lend me your ear." I had my mom cut up every single Q-tip in the house to make sure that Freddy wouldn't be able to do that to me. I have a feeling I won't be getting a good night's sleep tonight...or all week for that matter.

WTF

CSI eat your heart out, this is how it's done!

Hello Quarter Life Crisis

Lately all of my friends are experiencing the 'quarter life crisis' that I didn't really understand until last week. Getting rejected from grad school may have had a little something to do with my new found understanding. You see, last year my fiance went through one of these. Even then I hadn't even heard about the quarter life crisis. I simply thought he had gone temporarily insane when he decided that he hated living in our apartment, taking care of our two dogs and cat and went to live on his friends scummy couch for a week. At the time he described feeling confused and suspicious about how his life seemed a little too complete. For a guy who had it all (domestically speaking) at such a young age, he was starting to freak out. After some much needed soul searching, he finally got his shit together and figured out that it was okay to feel confused but that at the end of the day, he was happy. Compared to some of my other friends, he handled himself pretty well. Everyone else's crises came in the form of extreme substance abuse, promiscuity and I would argue, mild forms of prostitution. For some, it's gone beyond experimentation and developed into a full fledged life style. It's almost as though figuring out what we're supposed to be doing with our lives is so difficult that they just choose to take a big stinky shit on life. I on the other hand have never felt this need to shit on my own life. I worked hard, played by the rules and did everything I thought I should be doing. After completing my BA with honours while simultaneously working full time, I thought I would go to grad school and one day become a professor. After the chair of the fucking philosophy department wrote me a stellar recommendation and after submitting what I thought was a killer application, I was wait listed and then rejected.

Pro: I now have time to focus on my upcoming wedding (10/10/10!) and plan a long and well deserved honeymoon.

Con: I am freaked the fuck out about my future. What the hell am I supposed to do now?!